The incumbent governor of Kogi state, Yayaha Bello, has threatened to sack eight out of the nine Local Government Chairmen in the Eastern Senatorial District of the state following their failure to deliver a single local government to the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the just concluded gubernatorial election.
The chairmen include those of Omala, Ofu, Dekina, Ankpa, Olamaboro, Ibaji, Igalame/Odolu and Idah local government areas.
According to a report by Punch, the query was a fallout of the stakeholders’ meeting with members of the party, which was held last week after the poll where the governor who spoke extempore expressed “disappointment with the Chairmen for not living up to expectations” despite being mobilised to deliver their local government areas for the party.
As a result, he asked them to explain why the party performed badly in their respective council areas which are the aforementioned LGAs in spite of being mobilised to provide transportation and other logistics for the people before and during the election.
The governor according to the report also expressed his deep disappointment in the Chairmen for allegedly collecting unspecified sums of money from the Minister of Steel Development, Prince Shuaib Abubarkar Audu under the guise of “mobilisation votes” from him, even after the huge amount of monies given to them at the Government House before the election day.
Worse still, Bello noted that they still failed to deliver the necessary votes as APC only managed to win in the Bassa LGA.
“The implications of this is that the mobilisation fund ended up in private pockets and was not used for the purpose it was meant for,” the miffed Governor was quoted to have said.
He was equally said to have told the members present at the meeting that a questionnaire would be sent to them, which they should mandatorily submit by midday of Tuesday.
The tenure of the chairmen expires on December 12, 2023, however, it was further gathered that they may be sent packing before the day, even as there are talks that they may be forced to refund the mobilisation funds they collected before the election.
NewsWireNGR had earlier reported that Bello vowed that members of his cabinet who allegedly betrayed him during the November 11 governorship election in the state will not go unpunished.
Bello further accused many of his allies of betraying him because of his choice of Usman Ododo as his successor.
Ododo was declared winner of the governorship election, beating off challenges from Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Social Democratic Party, SDP’s Muri Ajaka.
Bello described some of the so-called allies in unprintable words, saying they sold him out.
He said “All of those disgruntled elements” moved against him “after everything I did for them.”
“I was fighting known enemies while enemies within were pulling me down. God punish you all.
“They said if it can’t be me, then it can’t be Ododo. They were busy conniving and conspiring with the opposition.
“They call themselves leaders, but were misleading the people.
“Shame on you all,” he said.
